Prison
by pikapikatchu
Summary: When a prison inmate is assaulted, Greg is willing to believe his innocence. He's willing to investigate the prison, but doesn't realize in what grave danger this will put him.
1. Chapter 1

Greg was walking down a prison hallway with his CSI kit in his hand. It was a sunday night and he was supposed to have the night off, but Russell got sick so he agreed to fill in. He wasn't too happy about it as he had already made some plans and was feeling like he could use a few days off, but he tried to stay in good spirits while on the clock. As he walked through the hallway, inspecting it with his weary eyes, he passed inmates lined up against the walls, most looking quite roughed up and bruised after a prison riot. The guards guiding him through the prison were both a bit banged up themselves, one with a fresh black eye and the other one with a bloody nose.

"He's over there," the one with the bloody nose said as he pointed at one inmate sitting on the floor, obviously in a great deal of pain.

Greg looked at him in surprise. "Shouldn't he be with a doctor?" The inmate was leaving a small puddle of blood on the floor as his nose was bleeding, as well.

"He's the one who started it all, I think he can wait a little longer," the guard with the black eye said annoyed.

"...Are you serious? No, get him to a doctor now."

* * *

Greg was waiting in the prison's visitor room for almost an hour when the two guards and the inmate walked in.

"He's fine," the guard with the black eye said with a sarcastic look on his face.

Greg just gave him a look. "Good."

As the inmate sat down, his pain-ridden face squirmed. "Hey."

"Hi, my name's Greg Sanders, I'm with the crime lab."

"Glenn Weller, nice to meet you."

Greg looked Glenn up and down. "Your hand's in a cast."

He nodded. "It's broken."

After a short look at the annoyed guard with the black eye, Greg looked back to Glenn. "How did that happen?"

"Look, I know you all think I started the riot, but I didn't mean to, alright? Just add whatever you think is appropriate to my sentence and let me go back to my cell."

"Why don't you tell me what happened instead? Your cell can wait."

Glenn sighed as he wiped away the mostly dried tears from his face. "I punched someone, that's how I got my hand broken."

"Who did you punch?"

"My cellmate. He provoked me."

"Provoked you how?" Greg was writing some of the things Glenn said down. The inmate was carefully following the pen with his reddened eyes.

After fidgeting in his seat nervously for a moment, Glenn quietly uttered the words, "He tried to rape me."

Greg stopped writing to look up to him. "...Oh." He looked down to his paper and pen again but didn't start writing yet.

"Something wrong?" The guard asked.

"...No. No, nothing's... wrong..." Greg resumed writing. "So... this started the riot?"

"No, what started the riot was me jumping on his face a few times and kicking him out of the cell. Some of the guys who... had raped me before... tried to help him, that's when hell broke lose."

Greg nodded without looking up. "What's your cellmate's name?"

"Everyone calls him Hangman."

"Philipp Stringfield," the guard chimed in. "He's in critical condition."

"...Good," Glenn said with a frustrated smile on his face. "I hope he pulls through, though."

"Did he, uh... try to... r-rape you... before?" Greg stuttered through this sentence. Ever since he almost became a rape victim himself he had a hard time even saying that word.

Glenn laughed humorlessly. "Are you kidding me? He's raped me more often than he changes his underwear."

"...Sorry to hear that." After having kind of a bad day already, Greg had to fight back tears upon hearing that. He cleared his throat. "Would you give us a minute, please?" he asked the guards, who looked quite surprised.

"What? You want us to leave you alone with him?" the one with the bloody nose asked.

"Just for a minute."

"...I don't think so."

"Get yourselves a cup of coffee, alright? It's okay, **my** responsibility."

The guard with the bloody nose didn't like the idea, but the one with the black eye did. "Alright. Come on, the guy can't even sit down without being in pain, he won't do anything stupid."

Greg was silent until the guards left. "...I'm sorry you have to put up with these lines."

Glenn shrugged. "That surely isn't the worst part about prison."

"I didn't get a chance to look at your files yet, what are you in for?"

"Not having an alibi." When Greg frowned confused, he added, "My girlfriend was killed five years ago. I was the one who found her and because I couldn't prove I wasn't home when it happened I'm in here, living in hell for the next... well, the rest of my life, probably." He started crying. "I really don't deserve this, you know? I wasn't the perfect boyfriend, but I loved her. I never would've hurt her."

Greg just nodded sympathetically. Believing an inmate claiming he was innocent was tough when Greg heard that line from almost every guy he's ever talked to, but Glenn seemed sincere.

"They didn't have any evidence working against me, they just wanted to close the case... I tried everything to get the case reopened but no one was willing to listen." He sobbed. "...Can you help me?"

"I-I'm only here to work on the riot, I..."

"Please, I can't take this much longer. Now that I hurt one of them, they're probably going to kill me. I'll die in here, either way. Please!"

* * *

While Greg was sitting in the evidence room, deep into his work, Nick knocked on the door with a pile of paperwork. "Hey Greg, I got something for you."

"Great, just put it on the table," he replied without looking up.

Nick did.

The pile made a noise as he dropped it down, which made Greg look up. "Jesus Christ, what the hell is all of this?"

"I just talked to Russell, he told us not to expect him to be back in the next week, so he asked us to tackle some of his paperwork."

"...What, didn't he do any paperwork in the last **year**? When am I suppose to work on that? I had to take on three extra cases already."

"Don't worry, you're not alone in this. Sara and I are here, too."

"Right. Well, then take about 2/3 off the pile and..."

Nick stopped him. "Oh, sweet, naïve Greg. I already did that. This is what's left, it's all yours."

"...Russell owes us for this."

Nick laughed as he patted his back. "I know."

"Hey Nick, before you leave... Does the name Glenn Weller ring a bell?"

Nick thought about it. "I'm not sure, why?"

"I was called to investigate a prison riot, he's the one who started it. I got his file here, you worked his case five years ago."

"Yeah? What'd he do?" Nick took the files out of Greg's hand.

"He's been convicted of murdering his girlfriend. But he claims he's innocent."

"Don't they all," Nick whispered to himself.

"Well, do you remember the case? Any chance he didn't do it?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking me if I might've helped put an innocent man in prison?"

"I'm sorry. I don't mean it like that but... he seemed genuine."

Nick read through the files. "His DNA was all over the murder weapon, his bloody shoe prints were leading away from the body and he had her blood on his sleeves."

"Yeah but the murder weapon was a knife from his kitchen drawer, he could've left his DNA on there before the murder. And look at the pictures of his sleeves. Might as well have been transferred when he found her and checked for a pulse. This would also explain the shoe prints."

The older CSI rolled his eyes. "Several neighbors heard a fight before the murder. They also said that they were constantly fighting."

"...Yeah, but..."

"No **but** ," Nick interrupted him. "Don't buy into his sorry sob story. He did it, I wouldn't have testified against him if I hadn't been sure of it."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

 **I hope you enjoy this story, I realize it has a similar storyline as my story "Though Break", but I hope you guys don't mind that :) I had this idea and decided to go with it. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

Even though Greg realized accusing Nick of sending an innocent man to prison wasn't a smart move, he was willing to believe Glenn Weller. He wasn't sure it was a good idea, but he decided to visit him in prison a few days later. After the visit, he ran into Nick on his way to his car. His first instinct was to hide from him, but Nick saw him before he got the chance to.

"Hey you. What are you doing here?"

"...My case. You know, I'm working the prison riot and... that's why I'm here. You?"

Nick raised his eyebrows. "Wow, working pretty hard on that one, huh? ...Wait, didn't you already close the case two days ago?"

Greg looked quite nervously. "...Yeah, but... I just had to check on something."

"Greg, don't tell me you were here to visit this Weller guy."

"Well, I gotta go, so..."

"Greg! Come on, what the hell?"

He sighed. "This has nothing to do with you, alright?"

"Are you sure about that? Because when I..." Nick stopped as he noticed the books in Greg's hand. "What's that?"

"...Nothing."

"Are you seriously helping this guy get his case reopened?"

"I just... I don't know, Nick. He deserves to get his case revisited, don't you think?"

"No, actually I don't think so because I **know** he's guilty!"

"You don't even remember the case."

"But I know that I'm thorough, okay? And I know that I would've dug deeper had I had the feeling that there was more to it. She cheated on him, he was jealous, snapped and killed her. What else do you need to know?"

"...They... rape him in there, Nick. I can't act like I don't know or don't care."

Things made a little more sense to Nick now. "And he's not the only one in there this is happening to. It's tragic but it is what it is, you can't change that."

"If I get to change it for just one of them, I'll at least try. I understand why you're not happy about this, but this has nothing to do with you. I just **have** to do this, I'm sorry."

* * *

Nick and Greg kept arguing about Glenn Weller every now and then for the next few days. Greg was too busy with work to be able to visit him again, even though he wanted to. While at a crime scene, he received a phone call. "Hey Nick. ...Really? How is he? No, I just finished here, I can be there in half an hour. Thanks... Thank you for calling me. See you there."

* * *

Greg hurried into Desert Palms hospital. He almost didn't notice Nick talking to a doctor in the hallway as his mind was somewhere else entirely. "Nick, hey."

"...That was quick." Nick looked surprised. Greg took half the time to be there than he said he would.

"Yeah. Where is he?"

"He's in there." Nick pointed at a hospital room. "He'll be fine. I just thought it would be better if you took the case. With my history with him... I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to work on it, you know?"

He nodded hastily. "So what happened?"

* * *

"Hi Glenn." Greg entered the hospital room with a soft smile on his face.

A guard was posted outside the room, but Glenn was alone in there. "Hey. Good to see you."

"How are you feeling?"

He shook his head as he slowly sat up in bed. "You have no idea how much it hurts to get beat up by an angry mob."

"...Well..." He smiled. "The wounds will heal, you'll be fine. Listen, I need to take some pictures of your wounds, alright? Collect some evidence and all that."

"I know the drill." He nodded. "But I won't press any charges."

"...Why not?"

"Because next time they have a reason to be angry at me I'll be dead."

* * *

Greg was working five cases at once at the moment, with Russell still being on sick leave. He was stressed out but the thought of being able to help Glenn was keeping him in a good mood. That good mood faded a bit as he was taking a look at the pictures of the inmate's injuries in the evidence room.

"Hey, have you seen Hodges? I've been waiting for some pretty important trace results and I haven't seen him in the last three hours. Has he even been in the lab?" Nick walked in with two cups of coffee in his hands. "Here."

"...Huh? Oh, thanks." Greg took the cup. "I haven't seen him, either. No, wait, I think he's down in autopsy."

"What the hell's he doing there instead of working on my evidence?" Nick's eyes browsed over the pictures Greg was looking at. "What's this?"

"Glenn's wounds from the mob attack."

Nick frowned. "What? I thought he didn't want to press any charges."

"He doesn't."

"Then what are you doing looking at those when you have, what, three other cases waiting for your attention?"

"...Five. And I'm on my break, so it's okay."

"It's not okay, you need to take a real break."

"Look." Greg held one of the pictures up. "What do you see?"

"Bad bruising?"

"Does this look to you like he'd been jumped by four or five guys?"

Nick took a closer look at the other pictures. "Hard to say."

"Not one sign that he'd been kicked. All the bruises are either on his face or his upper body."

"What's your point?"

Greg shrugged. "I'm not sure. But his injuries just don't match his story. He claims they kicked him while he was on the ground. They were either very... soft with him or he's lying."


	3. Chapter 3

**Enjoy the next chapter! :)**

* * *

Greg couldn't talk to Glenn for the next few days – he was too occupied with his other cases. He had seven to work on right now, one more urgent than the other. "Nick, have you talked to Russell today?" he asked as he hectically walked into the evidence room with two boxes full of evidence in his hands.

"We talked yesterday. He's feeling better. Why?"

"Great, when will he be back?"

Nick shrugged. "He didn't say, why?"

Greg sighed deeply as he put the boxes down on the light table. "How many cases are you working on at the moment?"

"Nine."

"...Nine? How are you doing it?"

Nick shrugged again. "It's only one murder case, the rest are petty thefts and a robbery."

"...What?! I have Four murders, the prison riot, Glenn's assault and a violent serial rapist. What about Sara?"

"She just closed three robbery cases, I think. Still got three cases left. But we can help you with your cases. Like I said, most of mine can wait."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I have these two boxes to work on. Maybe help me with it once you're done with yours?"

Nick smiled. "You're in luck, this is my last piece and I just finished it. I'll get it to Robin and then come back and help you."

"Thanks." Greg smiled at him relieved as he sat down to start processing his evidence.

"When was the last time you took a break?"

"Two hours ago."

"No, I mean a real break, where you didn't do anything work-related. I saw you talk to Henry about your case."

Greg sighed. "I don't know, tuesday, maybe?"

Nick gave him a look. "Are you serious?"

"I just didn't have the time, Nick. I can eat or drink coffee while working, no big deal."

"Okay, get out. Come back in half an hour or so."

He shook his head. "No, Nick, this needs to be done now. I can't afford to take a break right now."

"Sure you do, I'll take over. Get out." Nick put his evidence box into Greg's hands and pushed him out of the room.

"What... hey! Come on, Nick, stop it!"

"I'm serious. Get these to Robin and then take a break, I'll start in here, you can help me once your break's over."

* * *

Greg was as annoyed as he was glad about Nick's behavior earlier. He needed a break badly, but didn't feel like it was appropriate taking one while being under that much time pressure. But since Nick locked him out of the evidence room, he decided to drink a coffee in peace and then lie down on the couch in the break room for a while, finally relaxing after this exhausting week.

After half an hour was up, Greg walked back into the evidence room to work on the evidence together with Nick. "Thank you for forcing me to take that break."

Nick flashed him a smile. "You're welcome. And be honest, you can concentrate much better now that you gave your brain a break, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know it's important to relax every now and then, but... I just didn't feel like it was a good idea to put a hold on the cases."

"You're only human, Greg. Half an hour won't make a difference. The victims are already dead."

Greg sighed, but smiled. "I kept thinking about Glenn Weller, you know? His injuries don't make any sense but... why should he be lying?"

"Because he's a criminal. Greg, you know what prison does to some people. They're constantly in survival mode, they'd do anything to get out of there for a few hours, even if it meant going to the hospital."

"So you think he did this to himself?"

* * *

Greg had to endure two more stressful days until Russell was finally back. Greg's case count was up to eleven now and Russell was finally taking on some of the cases. It gave the CSI the opportunity to take a closer look into the prison riot and Glenn's assault. So instead of going home after his shift that day, he went to visit Glenn in prison to ask him about the assault.

"Why do you keep asking questions about this? I already told you, I refuse to press charges." Glenn was visually uncomfortable talking about the assault.

"There's just some things that don't make sense to me and I want to figure out what happened."

"Why? It doesn't matter, anyway." Glenn kept pulling the sleeves of his shirt over his wrists. His eyes were red and dried tears were visible on his face.

"I... just can't help you if you're being dishonest." Greg sighed as he put his head down.

"What?! What makes you think I'm being dishonest?"

"After taking a closer look at the pictures I took from your injuries..."

Glenn stopped him by pulling up the sleeves of his shirt and revealing several dark bruises around his wrists. "What? Weren't they enough to believe that I'm being tortured in here?! Need more proof? Here!"

"Hey, keep it quiet," the guard ordered.

"I didn't say I don't believe that, okay? But the beat-up... What happened really?"

Glenn tried to talk himself out of it before he realized there was just no point. "...Alright. There was no group that beat me up. It was just one guy."

"Why did you lie about that?"

"What's it to you? You don't plan on helping me get transferred, anyway."

Greg hastily shook his head. "I never said that. I want to help you. But I need to know the truth to do that."

Glenn leaned in to whisper to Greg. "There was one guy who had the same thing happen to him. He told the truth. Wanna know what happened to him? The police made him get all those horrible medical tests and pressured him into pressing charges. He was found dead in his cell three days later."

Greg frowned in confusion. "What do you mean? What happened?"

Glenn whispered the next words almost voiceless. "The guards. **They** raped me."

* * *

Greg couldn't stop thinking about Glenn's confession the next day. He had promised to keep quiet about it for now, but he knew he had to tell someone at some point. He wandered through the lab quite absent-minded.

"Hey Greg." Russell approached him. "Thank you for filling in for me the last week, it really helped. Are you doing okay?"

"...Hm? Uh, yeah. No problem. I'm good."

"...Are you sure? You look like something's bothering you."

Greg couldn't hide the heavy-hearted look on his face if he tried. Glenn's story really got to him. "I'm fine. There's just this case I don't know what to do about."

"Talk me through it, maybe I can help."

The two started walking through the lab's hallway. "I can't really talk about it right now, it's quite delicate."

"As your supervisor I have a right to know everything about the cases you're working on, you know that, right?"

"Of course, it's just... I need to figure out what to do with that information first."

Russell put his hand on Greg's shoulder. "Let me know when you're ready to talk about this."

* * *

The two parted ways and Greg went to look for Nick. He found him down in autopsy, alone in the room, processing a murder victim. "Nick, do you have a minute?"

"Sure," he replied as he kept on working. "What's up?"

"I went to see Glenn yesterday."

Nick sighed deeply. "Really? Why?"

"I wanted to know why he lied about the attack."

"And, did you get an honest answer out of him?"

"I, uh... I don't hope so but... I think so."

The serious, sad tone in his friend's voice made him stop his work. "What did he say?"

"That he wasn't attacked by prisoners but... by two guards."

"...Really."

"He doesn't want me to tell anyone but... He claims they raped him." The two men stood there, looking at each other for almost half a minute. "...Don't you have anything to say to that?"

Nick shrugged insecurely. "I don't know, Greg. My gut tells me you shouldn't trust the guy."

"Guilty or not, that shouldn't matter right now."

He nodded. "True, so... go talk to the warden about it."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. He claims one guy tried to tell on the guards. He was found dead later."

Nick frowned. "This is starting to sound like the plot of a stupid movie, don't you think?"

"I know it sounds ridiculous but... What if it's the truth?" Greg held a file in his hand. "This is Michael Philipps' file, the guy Glenn claims was killed by the guards."

"Oh, did you find anything suspicious?"

Greg looked away embarrassed. "I didn't even open the file yet."

"Why not?"

Greg shrugged with an insecure look on his face. "I guess I'm scared of what I might find. What if he's really telling the truth?"

"At least you'll know and can act appropriately."

"Yeah..." He nodded, then paused before adding, "The guards are there to stop these things... not conduct them."


	4. Chapter 4

**Enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

Nick finished his work in the autopsy room to join Greg in the break room. "So?" he asked as he walked in, sitting down opposite his friend.

Greg sat there with the files in front of him, staring down on them. "I-I don't know. The death was ruled a suicide, but no one knows where he got the rope he hung from. The autopsy was performed... sloppy, to say the least."

"With their work overload they usually deal with, the coroner probably thought this was a usual prison suicide and didn't care to do his work properly..." Nick replied with an annoyed look on his face.

"...Huh..."

Nick watched Greg's face impression change from insecure to downright scared. "What is it?"

"The guard who... found him. Sam Westwick..."

The name sounded familiar to Nick, but he couldn't place him. "Who's he?"

Greg inhaled deeply. "He's the guard that helped Novak attack me." He ran his fingers through his hair. "What am I going to do with this information now?"

Nick knew how much of a sensitive subject this was for Greg. "Give me the file." When Greg did, he added, "I'll take care of it."

* * *

Even though Nick insisted on taking over the case for Greg, the younger CSI didn't accept the kind offer. He was already too invested to stop now, even though it meant facing someone he never thought he'd ever see again.

"I'm surprised you wanted to see me," Sam Westwick said with a smirk on his lips.

Greg sat opposite the former guard, with Nick sitting close by his side. "Yeah well, I'm not happy about it, either."

"No, don't get me wrong. I **am** happy to see you."

"Do you recognize him?" He held a picture of Michael Phillips, the victim Glenn claimed had been raped by guards, up.

"Let's see." He put the picture in his hands and looked at it for a while. "Can I keep that?"

Nick pulled it out of his hands. "Just answer us."

"Well, he's a prison inmate, correct? And you wouldn't ask if you didn't already know the answer so... I'll go with... yes, I know him."

"Did you rape and kill him?"

Sam looked surprised, then laughed. "No. Why?"

"...Are you sure?"

"I think I'd remember. Besides, there wasn't a death in here for at least a year."

"He died at the prison you **worked** in, not the one you **live** in." Greg gave him a rather sarcastic look, which Sam didn't appreciate.

"Why didn't you just say that? Someone killed him?"

"We have reason to believe you were involved."

"What reasons?"

Nick explained how they figured Sam might've been involved.

He didn't respond, just looked at them. After a moment, his eyes fixated on Greg.

"Sam, we have your name on the report," Nick said after he got impatient. "And you're the only prison guard who worked on that day who's also in prison for battery and attempted rape."

He grinned at Greg. "Those charges were blown way out of proportion."

"...Are you kidding me?" Nick was getting annoyed by him. "Just tell us what happened to him."

Sam paused before he started talking again. He described a violent rape in gross detail, it was tough to listen to for both men. But his description didn't match the files the CSIs had. When Nick informed him of that, he added, "That's because I didn't rape that guy. I just told you what you missed out on." He grinned at Greg.

Greg's heart beat elevated and his first instinct was to leave the room, but he successfully forced himself to stay. "Just tell us what happened with him."

"You know what? I guess I owe you one. So listen closely. Just drop it."

"...What?"

"This is a dead end. You're getting involved with something neither one of you can deal with, just turn away and act like you never found out about this."

"...This isn't..."

He interrupted Greg. "And you. Let me guess. You're digging this case out because some inmate claims the same will happen to him, right?"

Greg slightly nodded with a confused, shocked look on his face.

"You should stay away from this guy, he's only using your... broken aura for his gain."

"W-Why would you say that?"

"Because you're obviously too stupid and naïve to realize it. Just stay away from him and those murder allegations."

* * *

Greg was painfully quiet on their ride back from the prison. Nick had been trying to get more useful information out of Sam Westwick, but he wasn't willing to give them any more. "That guy sure has his issues, huh?" Nick said in a desperate attempt to break the silence.

"I guess," Greg replied without looking at his friend. He just kept staring out the window as he was sitting in the passenger seat while Nick was driving.

"Don't take his words to heart. He was just trying to mess with you."

Greg needed a few moments before he answered. "Are you sure? Because you basically told me the same thing. That I was being naïve for believing Glenn."

"Yeah, but..."

"Do you think it's true?" he asked as he interrupted Nick. "That people sense that I'm... broken?"

Nick sighed. "First of all, you're not broken. You went through a lot but bounced back. You keep deminishing this accomplishment like it's nothing, don't do that. And second, no, I don't think people can sense that you have a rough past."

"But this isn't the first time I suspected this. There have been other suspects making remarks, you know? Giving me weird looks, that kinda thing."

"Maybe you're the one interpreting it the wrong way. I have suspects giving me weird looks or remarks all the time. Sometimes sexually, you know? I think it comes with the territory and has nothing to do with you personally."

"...I don't know... But do you think I'm being naïve?"

Nick couldn't help but smile. "Sometimes, yeah. I always thought this was one of your best and at the same time worst traits."

"How so?" Greg frowned.

"Well, it opens yourself up for disappointment. This guy could easily just be playing you. But on the other hand you're not willing to give up on people, even if they haven't proven they're worth your time and effort."

"So only others profit from it, but I don't, huh?"

"Not necessarily, no. Let's just assume for a moment that Glenn is lying about his own attacks. What if he wasn't lying about the guards raping and killing inmates? I would've closed the case days ago, but you're checking out every possible source for information. Besides, you're not the cynical type. Without your naievety, I think you'd become bitter."

* * *

Greg was trying to stay positive, even though this case was frustrating him. Having to face Sam Westwick wasn't something he thought he'd ever do, but he was also proud that he did it. He was reading the old case files in the break room as Russell entered.

"Hey Greg, haven't seen you all day. How are you doing?"

"Fine," he replied without looking up and without sounding too convincing.

The supervisor raised an eyebrow. "I got an interesting phone call from warden Shaw."

"...Huh?" Greg looked up from the files. "Warden Shaw? What did he want?"

"He expressed his concerns about you. He fears you're getting too invested in the case, he thinks you should've closed the case days ago, but you keep snooping around in his prison."

"...Snooping around? I'm only doing my job, Russell."

"...His words, not mine. But he said he'll file an official complaint if you don't stop. He thinks you shouldn't even be working the case, given your history with his staff."

"...My history with his staff? They help a serial killer attack me and I'm the one who's supposed to stay away from his prison?!"

"Calm down, that's not what I said. I just think it's better if I take over."

"Why? Because you don't trust that I'm being impartial, despite my... **history** with his prison?"

"This is nothing personal, alright? I just have to protect you and the lab. An official complaint by a prison warden won't look good for anybody."

Greg got off his seat in anger. "I don't care how it looks, Russell! This warden had guards rape and probably kill people, why should I back off?"

"You have nothing to prove that theory, do you?"

"Don't I?" He laughed humorlessly as he pointed at his cheek. "See that little scar? Sam Westwick left it on my face when he beat me to help Novak attack me! How much more proof do you need to believe me?!"

This emotional outburst only worried Russell more. "It's not that I don't believe you, but you need to have proof to accuse a prison of sexually abusing and even murdering their inmates. It's professional suicide to do it without any hard evidence. It's tricky enough to do it with it."

"Then how about supporting me instead of telling me to quit? We need to find out what's going on inside that prison. We already have one injured inmate accusing the guards of raping him and one suspicious death, how many more have to come forward before we react?"

"Okay, I agree, we should look into that. But **you** shouldn't. Believe me, I only say this to protect you. You're off the case."

"...Russell, no! I worked hard on that case, I **deserve** to keep on working on it!"


	5. Chapter 5

Greg's several desperate attempts to make Russell change his mind didn't work, he was off the case – and furious about it. Deep down inside he knew his supervisor was right and that he'd do the same in his position, but reason wasn't anything Greg was going to listen to at the moment. Trying to make the best of the situation, he decided to pay Sam Westwick another visit. "What can you tell me about warden Shaw?"

"I can tell great stories about that guy, most involve how much of a heavy drinker the guy is, but why should I tell you any of them?" Westwick smirked.

"I'm sure I'll find a way to pay back the favor, alright? Just tell me what kind of a person he is."

"You want to know if he's the kind of person that would let his guards rape and kill the inmates?" He released a loud laugh. "I really get why Neil liked you. You're cute."

"Come on, what will it take for you to talk?"

He had a dirty grin on his lips as he looked Greg up and down. "About half an hour alone with you."

He briefly looked over to the guard by the door rather intimidated and insecure. "Come on. Why do you want to protect that guy?"

"I'm not." He laughed. "I just really want to be alone with you for a while. When I described to you what I wanted to do to you... It turned you on a little, didn't it? That's why you're back, right?"

Greg realized this was a worse idea than he already knew. He felt highly uncomfortable and unsafe right now, he wondered why he didn't ask Nick to accompany him again. "Okay, I... I'll get going." He meant to rise up from his seat, but Westwick kept him from doing so.

"Listen to me, and listen close. I'll only say this once, alright? It's true. Everything you heard about Shaw is true. But that doesn't matter, wanna know why? Because he runs that place. Without him, there's no prison. Without that prison, thousands of inmates would need another place to stay. The prisons are all overcrowded as it is, so uncle Sam looks away. They all know, it's an open secret that Shaw not only lets his guards have their ways with the prisoners, but also that **he** abuses them. You think I would've gotten fired after I was done with you?" He laughed. "Shaw would've probably joined in. You think Novak was a bad guy, you can't even begin to imagine what Shaw has in store for his victims. At least Neil had the decency to put 'em out of their misery when he was done. Shaw keeps them around for seconds."

Greg just stared at him shocked, trying to process what he just heard. "Y-You're lying."

Westwick slowly shook his head. "You really want to know what's happening behind closed doors? Look into his office parties and you'll find out. Don't think it'll be pretty and don't say I didn't warn you."

Tears filled Greg's eyes as Shaw described in great, gross detail what he claims he had seen at one of those parties. It was much worse than what he had described the last time when he described what he had planned to do with Greg.

"So..." He tried quite hard to keep his composure, only succeeding slightly. "You're serious?"

"I'm not saying I didn't enjoy what I saw at those partys. I'm just saying... even I thought it was overkill." He laughed.

"Why... Why didn't anyone stop him yet?"

Westwick shrugged. "Because no one wants to lose their jobs. It's hard to prove anything, the witnesses stay silent because they're intimidated and embarrassed. And accusing someone of something like that without evidence..." He shook his head laughing. "He's a very respected man in Vegas. He donates a lot of money. He's basically buying his freedom with donations and influence."

"...You're actually telling the truth?"

He couldn't help but laugh again. "Are you worried about that because I told you you were naïve and gullible?" When the CSI nodded quite reluctantly, he went on, "Look, I still think you are. But your victim was telling the truth. Shaw's a monster."

Greg just nodded once more. He didn't know what to say.

"So now that I told you everything I know... How about you send the guard out for a little while." He winked at him grinning.

* * *

Greg knocked on Russell's office door as he walked in with a disturbed look on his face. He had wiped his tears away but they kept rolling down his face. "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure." Russell got off his seat to close the door behind his colleague. "What's wrong?"

"Look, I understand why you pulled me off the case and I probably should thank you for it... But I need you to assure me that you'll do something about this."

Russell sighed as he sat down. "I already did. I talked to the warden but didn't get anything out of him, aside from some very subtle threats."

"...Threats?"

"He just let me know how much power he has and that wrongful allegations that will lead to nothing are professional suicide for a young CSI like yourself."

He frowned. "Did you mention my name?"

"Didn't have to, he already knew. He knew that you were talking to Sam Westwick, there's nothing that goes on in any of the town's prisons that he doesn't know about."

"...Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Russell, Sam Westwick claims that the warden himself is the one abusing and raping the inmates. He's got office parties where he... does these things to them."

"Sam Westwick told you about them?"

He nodded.

"What makes you think he's telling the truth?"

He shrugged. "He seemed genuine. I don't think he has any reason to lie."

"Except to play you. He's a textbook sadist and narcissist, why should he help you?"

"I don't know, why shouldn't he? Maybe he has a grudge against the warden or something. Or maybe even he knows that what the warden's doing is wrong."

"Okay, Greg, you need to listen. We hit a dead end. We have lots of accusations and no evidence to back it up. No matter what the truth is, we won't get the warden to admit he has weird office rape parties. I'm sorry but we'll have to let this go."

* * *

Greg was crushed to hear his supervisor wasn't going to support him in his fight against the possibly very corrupt and evil warden Shaw. He didn't know how he could forget what he had found out, he didn't know how to act like it wasn't happening, even though he didn't have any proof that it actually was. All he had were the words of convicted criminals, people he had learned not to trust without some evidence backing their stories up. But in this case he forgot about his training and let his personal demons cloud his judgement. He walked into the crime lab two days later, his spirits still broken, his mind occupied and his mood way down.

"Greg, can I talk to you for a moment?" Russell asked as he passed him by in the hallway. "Follow me in my office, please."

Greg did as he rolled his eyes. Even though he could rationally understand why Russell needed to let this case go, his disappointment caused him to act rather hostile towards him at the moment. "What is it?"

Russell had a lot of understanding for his colleague but was getting annoyed by his tone. "Listen, the warden called today. He asks to speak to you."

"...What? Why?"

He shrugged. "Didn't say, he just wants to clear some things up."

"What, does he need to defend himself?" Greg chuckled humorlessly.

He gave him a look. "Do you want to meet with him or not?"

Greg thought about it for a moment. "Sure, let's see what he's got to say about..."

"No," Russell interrupted him, "This won't be an interrogation. You're just going to have a friendly talk, alright? He'll allow questions about the rape allegations in the prison, but don't you dare bring up the ridiculous sex parties you keep talking about."

He frowned. "You're trying to censor me?"

"I'm trying to protect you. You have no idea how powerful this man really is. He's friends with pretty much everybody in charge. The mayor, sheriff… You name them, he's friends with them. This could hurt your carreer profusely, is all I'm trying to tell you."

"I'll be fine. I won't take any unnecessary risks but I'll make this meeting count."


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry I let you guys hanging for so long! Here's two hopefully very enjoyable chapters and I'll do my best to update more regularly! Enjoy!**

* * *

Greg felt a mixture of excitement and anxiety upon meeting with warden Shaw. He was greeted by the man quite friendly, with a big smile on his face and a firm handshake. "Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Sanders."

Greg just nodded, trying not to fall for the man's undoubtedly convincing charm.

The meeting started in the warden's office, but after some small-talk in an attempt to get to know the CSI better, he gave a tour through the prison. "I want to make sure that after you leave here today, you're convinced there's nothing shady going on inside my prison."

"So you're claiming there's no sexual abuse going on in here?"

The warden sighed heavy-hearted. "You put that many disturbed men together and basically throw the key away, there'll be some abuse going on, sure. We're having programs aimed at these problems, we acknowledge that this is a big issue. But there's only so much we can do, you know, Mr. Sanders?"

"The guards aren't locked in here, yet there's rumors going around that they're part of the abuse."

They walked through the prison, but no criminals were there. They were all outside in the yard. "I'm aware of these horrible rumors and I've looked into it. Here's the thing, our staff goes through a series of tests prior to being hired. Psychological, physical, personality tests, you name it, we do it. They're not even allowed to have gotten a speeding ticket before they get hired, we're very careful to minimize the risk of hiring unstable personalities."

"That doesn't eliminite it, though."

The warden nodded. "Agreed. Which is why I personally check in on my staff every once in a while."

Greg raised his eyebrows. "Why, you don't trust them?"

He grinned. "Got me there. I do believe in the saying 'better safe than sorry', I'm not a very trusting person. Otherwise I wouldn't need them to take all these tests when I hire them."

The CSI gave him a look. It all sounded very shady, he didn't believe him.

They walked to the door to the psychiatrists' office. Shaw opened up. "You see, our psychiatrist isn't only an exclusive offer to the inmates, though they're usually the ones who visit him. Our staff can get an appointment for free, too. Keeping them safe and healthy is the first step to keeping our inmates safe and healthy."

"With all due respect, warden, you're dodging the issue. You have inmates in here accusing your staff not only of sexual abuse but also murder. Free access to a psychiatrist is great but won't stop something like this from going on."

"I know about those allegations and like I said, I looked into it. They're false. I think it's cute you're being naïve enough to trust a convicted murderer but it's not healthy for your carreer."

Being called naive from several people was grating his nerves. "...I've heard similar stories from other people."

"Who? Sam Winchester?" He chuckled. "That's even a worse witness. Why would you trust someone who broke your nose as he tried to rape you?"

Greg stared at him in shock. He didn't expect him to know about his talk with Sam Winchester, let alone their history together. Or bring it up in a way like he just did. "...What?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but I know all about you. Nothing that happens in my prison gets unnoticed by me." His cell phone rang. "Excuse me for a moment. Look around all you want, but those files over there are confidential." He pointed at a few files lying on the desk opened. The warden left the room, which gave Greg an opportunity to take a look.

He was able to read three pages before he felt a presence in the room. He looked up, but the warden wasn't back. Instead, three inmates stood in the doorway.

"Hey there," one of them said as he closed the door.

"...W-Where's warden Shaw?" Greg asked confused and shocked.

"He left." One of them walked closer to the CSI. "He just left you here alone with us."

His eyes wandered off the men for a few seconds to search the desk he was standing behind.

"You're not going to find anything you can defend yourself with. There's no sharp things in a prison."

"...The warden must be nearby, he only left for a second."

The man nodded his head. "Yeah, but he won't come back to help you."

Staring at the men made Greg realize that he'd seen them all before, only a few months ago. These were men he helped put in prison. His heart was racing and he didn't know how to get out of the situation – with his back actually against a wall and the only way out blocked by three dangerous criminals. His eyes filled with tears. "Please let me go."

They walked up to Greg and pinned him against the wall behind him, knocking over some pictures in the process. They acted calm, but weren't exactly gentle with him.

"N-No, please..." he wailed desperately, fighting against their hands in vain as they touched him all over his body.

"Relax, I just want your phone." As soon as they got it out of his pocket, they stopped touching him. They kept him pinned against the wall, though.

"You're pretty nosy, huh? The warden wants us to kill you."

Greg stared at the man as tears started falling down his face.

He sat down on a chair in front of the desk. He put his feet up on it as he started playing with the phone. "Do you have any hard evidence against him?"

Greg hesitated to answer, he wasn't sure it was a genuine question. "N-Not yet..."

"I doubt that. You must be getting pretty close. The warden feels backed into a corner, otherwise we wouldn't all be here right now."

"I-I was just trying to find out what he's doing with the inmates. I was trying to… help you guys."

"Help us?" He raised an eyebrow.

Greg nodded hastily, sensing a chance to get out of the situation. He tried to get their sympathy. "You have to live under these inhumane conditions and he goes even further, sexually assaulting inmates. I wanted to stop him."

"Huh. Yet you're the one who got us in here, no?"

Greg didn't know what to say to this. He wasn't really into getting into a discussion about how their actions were what placed them inside the prison. "I'm not the bad guy here. It's the warden. I **know** he doesn't treat you guys right, I just can't prove it yet. Give me time, I'm close. You said that yourself!"

The men all started to laugh. "What, you think you're the first to realize this? You think you're the first who could prove it? No! There's been people like you before. The warden bribes them. Gives them money or promotions, whatever they'll take."

"He promotes them? ...Prison guards?"

"Sure, but also cops and the like." He got off his chair to walk closer to Greg. "He's got influence all over the city."

He stared at them in shock as he thought about all the colleagues who got promotions despite not showing any effort to get one. "H-How do you know?"

"Well, it's mostly hearsay and some circumstantial evidence, but that's enough for me."

"What circumstantial evidence? Show me, I-I can look into it and..."

The man put his finger on Greg's mouth. "Ssssshhh, that's not what you're here for."

* * *

The men had pinned Greg down on the ground as the door to the psychiatrist's office opened. One of them – the one who had talked to him before – was on top of him, hitting his left arm with various objects he had found in the office. The CSI's screams were muffled by one of the other men's hand.

The warden walked in with the biggest grin on his face. "Oh my, this looks good."

"Warden, didn't hear you coming," the man said with a smirk as he got off Greg.

"You already broke his… that's his left arm."

"Huh?"

"I told you to break his right arm."

"...Oh, sorry. I thought you said left."

He sighed deeply. "Whatever. Doesn't matter, out of my way." He walked close towards Greg, kicking his leg to get his attention. "Learned your lesson yet?"

Greg nodded, the exhaustion clearly visible in his face and body language.

"Good." The grin on the warden's face got bigger. "But I can't just take your word for it, can I?" He bent down to grab Greg by his hair. "These three will kill you. But not until I'm finished with you." He looked at the inmates as he unbuckled his belt. "You guys can leave now."

"See you in a bit, warden," the men said as they left.

* * *

The warden had only a few minutes alone with Greg when the inmates walked back in. "Time's up!"

"...What? Get the hell out of here! I told you to come back in an hour!" the warden was yelling loud and aggressively. He was on top of Greg, keeping him pushed down on the ground with his one arm. The CSI had stopped struggling as each try was met with ruthless violence. "Out, or you'll spend the rest of your sentences in isolation!"

The inmates ignored the warden's threats and instead walked up to pull him off Greg.

"...Hey! Stop it, what are you doing?!" He struggled to get them off him, but they overpowered him, pinning him down on the ground just like they did Greg before. "Get off me!" His head got smashed against the ground twice, it weakened him – he stopped struggling. "...What do you want?"

They patted him down to reveal a gun concealed in his boot. "Ain't that a surprise?" one of the men laughed as he got all but one bullets out of it, then handed it to Greg. "You want the honor?"

"...What?" Greg asked shocked, barely having the strength left to sit up.

"Hey warden, what were you doing to him right now?" the man asked.

Instead of answering, the warden spit in his face. All that did was get his head smashed against the floor again.

Greg winced. "S-Stop it. Please."

"Why? After he would've been finished raping you he would've left you here with us. We were supposed to kill you slowly and painfully." He watched Greg's eyes fill with tears. "Just one bullet through his head or heart and it's over. He won't be able to hurt you and he won't be able to hurt anyone else." He held the gun closer to him.

He stared at the gun. "...Please don't make me do this," he finally whispered.

"...Make you do it? Don't you want it?"

He shook his head. "I just want to go home. Please let me go."

The man sighed. He put the gun into Greg's hand. "Just do it and you're free."

Greg's hand was shaking as he held the gun, barely pointing it at the warden. "T-There's other ways. He'll get arrested and..."

"And what? Spend the rest of his life with us in prison, where he can keep on raping inmates?"

"...Scott, please." He had remembered the man's name. "There's other ways. I'll help you guys, but..."

"Oh for heaven's sake!" the man exclaimed as he grabbed Greg's hand to pull the trigger. A shot hit the warden in the abdomen.

The CSI stared at the bleeding wound in shock as the gun slipped from his shaking hands. "...W-What did you do?"

"I ended what he started," Scott said as he pointed at the warden.

The warden screamed in pain, wiggling around to try and release himself from the men's grips.

The three inmates were pretty occupied with the bleeding warden. He couldn't get up, but Greg crawled past them and towards the door.

Scott noticed quickly, as Greg's hurt-filled and desperate moans weren't too subtle. "Stop!" He grabbed him to pull him back. Greg used all his remaining strength to fight him off, but succumbed to him rather quickly, but not after receiving another few blows to his arms. The inmate had tight grips around Greg's shoulders as he shook him. "Shut up! Just shut up and listen! You can't go outside now. **We'll** leave."

"...D-Don't leave me alone with him."

Scott released a laugh. "Not a problem. It's over for you. It's not over for him."

The smile Scott gave him caused a weird sense of reassurance and calm in Greg. He nodded.

"Lock yourself in after we've left, things are going to get messy outside." Scott walked to the desk to pick some things up, while the others picked the warden up.

Greg stared at them. He contemplated telling them not to go through with their plan, but he kept silent, waiting for them to leave. Once they finally did, he crawled towards the door to follow Scott's advice and lock himself in.


	7. Chapter 7

Greg found himself sitting in an interrogation room – but not at the police station near the lab. He'd been alone in the room for hours, resting his head on the table in an attempt to sit as comfortably as this cold metal table and chair allowed. Having his injured hand cuffed behind his back didn't raise his comfort level, either. He was exhausted – both physically and emotionally. His wounds needed medical attention, but that wasn't on his mind right now. He tried hard to process what had just happened to him but couldn't – he just didn't understand what happened. Even though he was tired he couldn't sleep, as soon as he closed his eyes the moments from tonight started to replay in his mind. The memory was too fresh, too vivid, he didn't dare sleep – the nightmares would be too much to handle.

After almost three hours, a detective walked in to talk to him.

"Here, sign that," he said without introducing himself.

"What is this?" Greg asked, lifting his head up.

The detective put a pen in front of him. "This will make this all much easier, just sign it."

He raised his eyebrows as he looked at him. "Where's my representative?"

"You don't need one, it's very clear what happened. Sign." It was audible the detective was getting unnerved.

"I'm not signing anything until..."

He interrupted him. "Listen up, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you don't sign now, you won't get a second chance to do it."

Greg took a look at the paper. "You want me to confess to killing the warden?" He couldn't help but laugh humorlessly as he shook his head. "I didn't kill him."

The detective slammed his hand on the table in front of Greg, it startled him. "Are you kidding me?!"

He was determined to comply with the detective, thinking he was on his side. But it was now clear he wasn't. "Listen, I'm a CSI. I didn't kill the warden and I want to talk to a lawyer."

"Do I look like I care? I'm doing you a favor here, kid. The next person you'll have to talk to will be the D.A. and believe me, he's pissed. Because his daughter just lost her godfather because **you** killed him."

He meant to again state his innocence, but he just realized what the detective said. Warden Shaw was an extremely important, powerful person who had connections to pretty much everyone in Vegas. Although his body was pretty dried out by now, his eyes filled with tears of desperation. "I'm injured and in pain, I need to go to a hospital."

He had to endure another half hour of this interrogation when it was disturbed by loud noise in the hallway outside. "...Don't move," the detective said with gritted teeth. He walked outside, but came back moments later, looking much more hecitc than before. "Alright, let's get this going. It's time for you to..."

As the door burst open, Brass and Nick hurried inside. "Finally!"

Greg quickly got off his seat in excitement, wanting to hug them, but the officer walking in after them forced him back down on his chair.

"Hey, watch it!" Nick protested. "What are you doing?"

"He's under arrest, don't touch him."

"You already said that, but what for?!"

"Murder."

They both stared at the officer, then at Greg. All they'd been told was that there'd been an incident at the prison and that Greg was here. "...What are you talking about?"

"Warden Shaw's dead, but I had nothing to do with it," Greg explained.

"...Are you serious?" Nick adressed the officer. "He's under arrest for the murder of the warden?"

The officer simply nodded.

The detective sighed annnoyed. "I told you to wait outside."

"And I told you that we needed answers," Brass chimed in. "Why is he under arrest?"

The detective and Brass got into a discussion, but Brass didn't want to discuss this in front of everybody. He asked the detective to talk outside, so they walked out.

"What happened, Greg? You look horrible, who did this to you?"

"My career's over… Russell was right, but not in the way he thought he was."

"...What are you talking about? You didn't… kill the guy, right?" he whispered.

"No. Of course not. But you heard the detective. They arrested me…"

"Hey, listen. You didn't do anything wrong, did you? It will all work itself out, you're going to be okay."

"I don't think so." He started crying.

"Hey, look at me." He put his hands on Greg's cheeks to get him to focus on him. "You're going to get through this. I'll be there for you."

He nodded, but he didn't believe that things would actually turn out okay.

The detective and Brass walked back in. The detective had an annoyed look on his face as he put the handcuffs off Greg's wrists."Mr. Sanders, we're releasing you out of our... protective custody."

"...What?"

"You're captain Brass' responsibility now. Don't leave town, you're still a person of interest."

Greg looked around confused. "I-I can go now?"

* * *

Waking up the next moring felt strange. Greg was thankful to be still alive, but at the same time felt like dying wouldn't have been the worse option. He was depressed and was ridden with post-traumatic stress that he felt more intense today than right after the fact. His left arm was in a cast and his face and body were in bruises. After sitting in the interrogation room for hours, he had finally been able to get his wounds treated at a hospital.

Russell had offered for him to take the next few weeks off and he accepted. But before he could do that, he wanted to wrap some loose ends on his old cases up, as well as do a little investigating on his own.

The supervisor walked past the evidence room, surprised to see Greg in there. "Hey, what are you doing? Stop that."

Greg looked up from some files. "Don't worry, I'm not working."

"Sure looks like it."

"I'm just getting some things done so whoever takes over doesn't have to work through my organized mess." He smiled at him.

The smile was as empty as Greg's eyes, Russell noticed this. "I'm taking over, I'm quite familiar with your mess, I can deal with it without you trying to organize it. Believe me, you'll only make things worse," he replied jokingly. As he glanced on the computer screen, he realized he was only working on one particular case. "What's this? Prison records?"

Greg didn't answer as he clicked around the files nervously.

"Greg, you should know better than this. What are you doing?"

"Nothing, I was just following a lead..."

"What lead?"

He got off his seat. "You're right, it was a bad idea."

"No, tell me. Whatever could be of help, we need to give to the D.A."

Greg hastily shook his head. "Don't tell him about this."

"Why not?"

He sighed as he sat back down. "I know you'll think I sound paranoid, but the D.A. is friends with warden Shaw. Just like this detective."

"It won't be easy finding a D.A. in Vegas that wasn't friendly with him. He was a very respected man, he did a lot for Vegas' police."

"Yeah, and he also abused his prisoners. I know you never believed me, but he did."

Russell shook his head as he grabbed a chair to sit down. "This was never about whether I believed you or not. I wanted to protect you, I just didn't care whether you were right or not. I just wanted to keep you from doing anything that would hurt your carreer." He looked him up and down. "I feel like I should've been more persistant."

Greg looked back at the computer screen in an attempt to hold his tears back.

Russell sighed. "Alright. Tell me what you were just working on and then get back home, you need the rest. I'll take care of this."

He shook his head. "Thanks but… I don't want to drag you into this."

Russell chuckled. "I'm already in knee-deep and I don't mind. Anything to help you out, really."

The younger CSI hesitated for a moment, but then decided to just go with it. "The warden was surprised… almost angered… that they broke my left arm instead my right. At first I thought maybe because he feared I could fight back less with an injured right arm. But he was a big guy, they outnumbered me and he knew the inmates would weaken me so I remembered… Glenn Weller had a broken right arm. He was the inmate this all started with."

"...Okay." Russell wasn't sure where this was going.

Greg got off his seat to walk to a drawer, pulling a pile of folders out of it. "There have been dozens of broken arms in the last year in this prison." He handed the sheets to his supervisor. "Three were injured because of auto-aggressive behavior, the rest all accidents or fights between the inmates. In over 80% of the cases the right arm was the broken one."

"Yeah, because it's the dominant side in most people, so it makes sense that..."

"Russell, the numbers don't add up. I compared three different prisons, nowhere do the numbers match this prison's. There'd been much more broken arms in that prison than in any other, let alone the right one."

"So what's your theory?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, maybe some kind of fetish? I know this all sounds weird and paranoid, Russell, but… you do believe me, right? The warden wanted to kill me."

Russell nodded thoughtfully. It was hard to believe the story and there were lots of things that just didn't quite add up, but he didn't dare question Greg – because it would mean he was lying about last night's events. "...Detective Sullivan thinks you were alone with the warden."

"...Huh?"

The supervisor sighed. "He thinks you made the inmates up so the focus is off of you."

"D-Do you think that, too?"

He shook his head. "I think it doesn't really matter, either way. The warden clearly attacked you."

"I'm not making them up."

"I'm not saying you do. I'm saying that whatever happened and whatever you did, you did it in self-defense."

He looked at his boss quite desperate. "Russell, it matters to me. I wasn't alone with the warden, three inmates were with us. **They** killed him."

Russell hadn't planned asking Greg any questions about last night. He knew how hard it was for him to talk about this, but since they already started the discussion he decided to ask some questions, after all. "But Sullivan said you're the one who shot him. They found gunshot residue on your hand."

Greg hastily shook his head. "I tried to tell him but he wouldn't listen. One of them put the gun in my hand and pulled the trigger."

"Why'd he do that?"

Greg's eyes filled with tears again. It was obvious to him that Russell didn't really believe his story. "I'm not making this up, Russell."

"I'm sorry. I do believe you. But this is such a weird story to process." He tried to talk himself out of this, but he knew the damage had already been done. Greg felt like he didn't believe him.


	8. Chapter 8

"I was hoping the rumors weren't true. What are you doing here?" Nick asked with a soft smile as he walked into the break room, where Greg was resting.

"I thought I told you I needed to wrap some hings up before I would take a few days off."

"First of all, weeks. You're taking a few weeks off, right? And second, no, you didn't tell me."

He shrugged. "Sorry."

"No, it's alright." Nick sat down next to him at the table, putting a tablet pc in front of him. "I'm glad you're here."

"You are?" He frowned. He didn't tell Nick because he expected him to lecture him about staying home instead of being at work after last night.

"Yeah, because I wanted to show you something." He turned on the tablet pc and turned it to Greg.

"...What is this?"

"I asked Hodges and Henry to help me sort through the prison's face book. We were able to get the number down to a little over 400 according to your description of the guys. We know it's still a lot, so if you have any additional info on them so we can..."

"You shouldn't have done that," Greg interrupted him.

"No, it was no problem, we..."

"No," he interrupted him again. "You shouldn't have."

Nick shook his head. "Greg, this detective thinks you made your story up. If we find the inmates they can corroborate your story. You just have to identify them."

He tapped his thumb nervously on the table. "Mhm."

"So you said two were over 6 feet tall, the other one a little shorter, all muscular built. Two with brown hair, one bald. All three white. Anything else that might help us shorten the number of suspects? Like… Eye color, maybe."

"I didn't really concentrate on their eyes, Nick."

"Yeah… But anything else? Have you maybe seen one of them before, have you maybe worked their cases?"

He got off his seat to get a water bottle out of the fridge and tried to open it. Since his left arm was in a cast, he wasn't successful and dropped the bottle.

"Here, let me help you." Nick picked it up and opened it up. When he looked back up to his friend, he was in tears. "...G-Greg, it's okay. Your arm will heal, and I'm here if you need any help."

Greg smiled at his friend. "Thanks, but…" He sighed deeply, feeling the need to let his friend in on his secret – that he remembered each inmate's name and would be able to identify them immediately. But he didn't want to burden him with this. "I just really don't feel like sorting through 400 mug shots."

"But this would exonerate you of any claims this detective has against you. Without those inmates he'll try to make it look like you provoked the warden. With them, things look very differently. You'd be out of harm's way."

"...I-I should get home. You're right, I need rest."

Nick frowned. "Do you need a ride?"

"No thanks," was all he replied as he got off his seat and hurried out of the room.

* * *

Detective Sullivan had called Brass to tell him to bring Greg by his police station today, he wasn't done interrogating him just yet.

Greg was extremely nervous and couldn't hide it. He tapped his thumb nervously on the table he had been sitting at last night. Drops of his dried blood were still on the floor, he stared at it with a horrified face impression.

"Don't worry," Brass said in an attempt to calm him down, "He's just gonna ask a few more questions and then we'll leave."

"I already told him everything there is to say, he just wouldn't listen. What should be different today?" He sighed deeply, his eyes still fixating on the blood drops.

Detective Sullivan and two officers walked in. "Sorry to keep you waiting. How are you feeling today, Mr. Sanders? I understand your injuries were a little more serious than you led us to believe yesterday, we're really sorry about that."

Greg gave him a look. He told them he needed medical attention and they just wouldn't listen – they didn't care.

"Will you get to the point?" Brass asked impatiently.

"Happy to!" the detective exclaimed joyous. "You see, we got our hands on some new and interesting evidence. I could've just called and told you, but I figured showing you would be more interesting to you."

Both men watched him turn on a laptop in confusion. "What evidence?"

"Don't worry, Captain Brass, this is good news for all of us." Sullivan had an evil smirk on his face. "So… what went down last night, Mr. Sanders?"

"He already told you in great detail, there's no need for him to repeat it," Brass hissed at him.

"Sure, he told a nice story. But that wasn't the whole thing, was it, Greg?"

"...I-I don't know what you're talking about," Greg replied confused.

Sullivan grinned as he clicked around on the laptop. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance to come clean." Weird noises were coming out of the computer that confused the two men. When the detective turned the screen to them, things became a lot clearer.

"...W-What is this?" Greg asked aghast as he stared at the screen.

Brass was too shocked to say anything – too shocked to react for a moment as he, too, stared at the screen.

"Oh my god..." Greg's body started shaking uncontrollably as the warden entered the scene. "T-Turn it off." It showed the moments from last night, starting a few moments before the warden had entered the office.

"I think you should keep watching. It's important." The grin on Sullivan's face got wider.

Brass was finally able to react as Greg stated that he was getting sick watching this, so he reached out his hand to close the laptop, but the detective stopped him.

"What's wrong with you? This is great news. You're off the hook, Mr. Sanders."

* * *

Greg felt a mix of relief and utter horror – relief that his name had been cleared, but horrified that there was visual evidence about the previous night. He was not prepared for this and wasn't sure how to handle it, especially since Brass watched it, too. After tossing and turning in his bed for almost two hours, Greg recognized that falling asleep wasn't going to happen tonight – at least not now. He felt nervous and lonely. "Nick?" He knocked on his friend's bedroom door.

"Come in," he said quietly in a sleepy voice. "Is something wrong?"

"N-No. I'm sorry to wake you, I couldn't sleep and..." He stood in the doorway like a child who needed comfort after a nightmare.

His friend signed him to come closer. "What's going through your mind?"

He sat down on the end of the bed. "I feel bad because I kinda got caught in a lie."

"...What lie?" He sat up. "About… Shaw?"

"About what happened in the night he died." He sighed deeply. "They made a video, Nick. It's all on video and detective Sullivan has seen it."

"What are you talking about? What's on video?"

"I know who the three inmates were. I knew their names, I worked their cases. They made a video of what happened that night and now Sullivan knows who they are."

"H-Hold on, back up. There's a video of that night? So… you're cleared!" Nick exclaimed rather excited.

"Didn't you listen? They identified the inmates. They have on video what they did to him and… me."

The excitement in Nick's face faded quickly to make room for concern. "What… **did** they do to you?"

"Nick, that's really not the point. I lied and they know. And the inmates… They'll get in a lot of trouble."

"Well, good."

"That's not good, Nick." Tears filled Greg's eyes. "They saved me and now they're supposed to get punished for it?"

"Look, I know you think they saved you but… they injured you, they kept you in that office against your will and they made you shoot the warden. It's normal to feel that way after being with them for such a long time, but..."

"This isn't Stockholm Syndrome, Nick! I don't **think** they saved me, I **know** they did. If it wasn't for them, if the warden had chosen any other inmates, I'd be dead now."

"...Maybe. But that doesn't change the fact that they killed Shaw and hurt you. And it's not up to you to decide whether they deserve a punishment or not." He frowned at him. "What were you thinking, lying to protect these guys, Greg? You could get in real trouble."

"Brass says I'm good, Sullivan will stop going after me."

"Because they got their hands on that video. But what would've happened without it? This guy really wanted you for the murder of the warden and you withheld information that could've exonerated you?"

The tears came falling down his cheeks. "I couldn't have lived with myself had I gotten them in trouble, Nick. I'm sure Sullivan will try for the death penatly and they don't deserve that."

"Alright. I get what you're saying, but… You're not responsible for what happened and you're not responsible for what will happen to them. You can't do anything about it and you shouldn't try to get involved. It's time you look out for yourself, not everybody else. Let this go."


	9. Chapter 9

"Thanks for doing this, Nick." Greg gave his friend an insecure smile as the two set foot into the prison Greg had been attacked in four days earlier.

"Sure, I told you I'd be there if you need me. But are you sure about this?" Greg had decided to pay one of the inmates a visit to get some answers.

"No." Greg chuckled as he signed in for a visit. "But it's keeping me up at night, I need to do something about it." He noticed the guards all staring at him as they passed him by. "W-Would you be okay being in the room when I talk to him?"

Even though Greg had asked him at first to stay out of the visitor's room, Nick never intended to do so. He was adamant to be there for his friend. "Of course."

"...Thanks." He smiled at him, but his eyes quickly wandered towards the guards staring at him. He felt highly uncomfortable being here, knowing that at least some of these guards probably knew about the warden and didn't do anything about him. His heartbeat elevated as he walked closer towards the visitor's room, his sweaty, shaky hand slowly opening the door. The two CSIs walked in and sat down on the two chairs.

Scott Brooks, one of the inmates that attacked Greg, limped into the room with a grin on his banged-up face. "Hey there."

Greg looked him up and down, shocked to see him in the state he was in. "What happened to you?"

"You wouldn't believe how many friends the warden had in this prison." He glanced over to Nick. "Who's this? Your bodyguard?"

"He's a friend."

"You're not actually scared of me, are you?"

Greg hesitated to shake his head, his eyes wandering to the guard in the room for a split second.

"...Oh, I see. You're scared of **them** , huh?" he whispered.

"...Did they let you see a doctor?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject. He was scared – both of the prison staff and the inmates, including the one sitting in front of him. He just didn't want to admit it, not to himself or someone else.

He shook his head as he laughed humorlessly. "What are you doing here?"

Greg sighed after thinking about an answer. "I'm not sure." He smiled insecure. "Hoping to get some answers from you, I guess."

"So what are your questions?" The man leaned back in his seat.

"I've been thinking, you know? Why did you videotape it all and… why'd you send it to the D.A.?"

Scott shrugged. "People needed to know what was happening. We set this asshole up, everything we did that night, we did it so he would expose himself. He insisted we break your right arm. We broke your left arm so that he'd say on camera that he wanted the arm to be broken."

"...But you killed him. Why does it matter?"

He leaned in a little. "Because I wanted everyone to know, his mother, his wife… the people at the supermarkt he bought his groceries from… **everyone** , to know what a monster he was."

"Is… Is this the reason you left me alone with him?"

Scott raised his eyebrows. "...Well, yeah. We knew his MO, alright? We knew that he liked to take his time with his prey. And he did, didn't he? He didn't rape you yet, so… we're good, right?" He grinned.

The grin disturbed Greg, so he decided to change the subject. "Okay. So… why'd you let me live?"

Scott looked at him confused. "Huh?"

"You said it yourself. I'm the reason you guys are in here. You had the chance to kill me… Why didn't you?"

"Why should we have? Look, the two of us will never be friends, but we had the same agenda, didn't we? We were partners in crime." He grinned at the two CSIs. "Granted, we had different ideas on how to achieve our goals, but… we did it, right?" He noticed the disturbed look on Greg. It caused him to tone his cynical humor down a notch. "Alright, I'd be lying if I'd say I didn't enjoy what we did to you, but for what it's worth, I'm also kinda sorry."

"...Thanks. That's… that's good to hear, I guess." Greg frowned.

"If I could've done the same thing to the warden without you getting involved, I would've, is all I'm saying."

"...Then why did you force me to shoot him?" he asked with a shaky voice. With everything that had happened and had been done to him, this one haunted him the most.

"I didn't force you." Scott just shrugged. "I just figured you might want it."

"...I told you I didn't."

"So? I didn't care, I just wanted this guy to suffer. And I know he would've hated getting shot by you. He thought you were weak. You could've proven him wrong but… guess he was right."

Hearing this affected Greg deeply. He felt weak and powerless ever since he'd been attacked by Neil Novak. Hearing this from other people hurt a lot.

"He's not weak," Nick chimed in.

"...Nick, it's okay." Greg asked him not to get involved in the conversation.

"No, I'm sorry, Greg. But I won't sit here listening to this guy attacking you for not being a coldblooded killer. He's not weak, he survived a lot. He's strong enough to come face to face with you, three days after you attacked him in a viscious and horrifying way."

Scott grinned, with an impressed look on his face. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry. I might've misjudged you."

"...Thanks," he replied surprised. He leaned in to Nick to whisper to him. It ended in a whispered discussion, but Nick eventually agreed to what Greg asked him. He walked out of the room.

Scott looked at him in confusion. "What's going on?"

"I asked him to give us a moment alone."

"Yeah I got that. Why?"

"Because I don't want him to know about the following… I know I owe you my life. Had the warden asked any other inmates to help him with his plan, I might not be sitting here right now. You also did some pretty awful things to me, but I know that you guys were pretty much backed into a corner and had no other choice. So what I'm actually trying to say is that I'm thankful for what you did."

Scott didn't know how to react to this. He felt bad about what he did to Greg now. He was getting emotional, something he didn't know how to deal with. "...So?" he asked annoyed, in an attempt to deal with his emotions.

"So… When this all is over, the court hearings, trials and whatnot… I'll pay you back."

"What the hell are you talking about?" he was getting rather aggressive. His go-to reaction was always rage when faced with emotions.

Greg smiled at him. "I can't really explain it, but I just feel like I have to do this. Life didn't treat you guys fairly. And now you're going to get punished for doing the right thing."

"The right thing? You think we did the right thing?"

"In your world, yes. I wish you would've let him live but I understand why you felt like you couldn't. I'll talk in your favor at the hearings and the trial and I sincerely hope it'll help reduce your sentence, but… I don't feel like it will be enough."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Get to the point already."

Greg's smile got bigger. "I'll transfer some money to your accounts."

Scott's eyes widened. "What?"

"It won't be much, but I hope it'll make your lives inside these walls a little more comfortable."

"...Are you serious?"

Greg nodded. "I just want you guys to know that I appreciate what you did for me." He got off his seat. "Take care." He hesitated for a second, then pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his pocket and wrote his work number on it. "If one of you guys needs something… anything, let me know, alright?"

Scott watched him walk towards the door. He was surprised, almost shocked, by Greg's words. "...W-Wait. S-Sit back down. Please."

He did. "Yeah?"

Scott looked down on his folded hands on the table. "This prison's close to a riot. It's pretty much divided in three parties. The ones who despised the warden, the ones who had no idea what was going on and the ones who idiolized him."

Greg nodded interested.

"The latter is obviously not pleased about what we did. They're assaulting inmates. The few guards who didn't know about what Shaw did are stopping most of it, but they're not around all the time. It's just a matter of time until a riot gets started."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Scott hesitated to answer, but Greg pressed him to. "I know you don't have enough power or influence to get the rotten guards fired," he whispered to him.

The CSI hastily shook his head. "I'll try my best, believe me."

Scott smiled at him. "Look, maybe I'm being naive, but I think getting rid of the… pro-Shaw party leader would make a huge difference. He's got too many henchmen to get close to him, otherwise we'd take care of him ourselves. Maybe your approach might be a better fit here."

Greg frowned. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know." Scott shrugged as he chuckled. "I shouldn't have said anything, I guess there's nothing you can do about it."

"N-No, tell me. I want to help you. Maybe I can get him transferred to another prison or…" He got his pen and pape ready. "Just tell me his name, who is he?"

"Glenn Weller."


	10. Chapter 10

"Thanks for doing this, Nick." Greg gave his friend an insecure smile as the two set foot into the prison Greg had been attacked in four days earlier.

"Sure, I told you I'd be there if you need me. But are you sure about this?" Greg had decided to pay one of the inmates a visit to get some answers.

"No." Greg chuckled as he signed in for a visit. "But it's keeping me up at night, I need to do something about it." He noticed the guards all staring at him as they passed him by. "W-Would you be okay being in the room when I talk to him?"

Even though Greg had asked him at first to stay out of the visitor's room, Nick never intended to do so. He was adamant to be there for his friend. "Of course."

"...Thanks." He smiled at him, but his eyes quickly wandered towards the guards staring at him. He felt highly uncomfortable being here, knowing that at least some of these guards probably knew about the warden and didn't do anything about him. His heartbeat elevated as he walked closer towards the visitor's room, his sweaty, shaky hand slowly opening the door. The two CSIs walked in and sat down on the two chairs.

Scott Brooks, one of the inmates that attacked Greg, limped into the room with a grin on his banged-up face. "Hey there."

Greg looked him up and down, shocked to see him in the state he was in. "What happened to you?"

"You wouldn't believe how many friends the warden had in this prison." He glanced over to Nick. "Who's this? Your bodyguard?"

"He's a friend."

"You're not actually scared of me, are you?"

Greg hesitated to shake his head, his eyes wandering to the guard in the room for a split second.

"...Oh, I see. You're scared of **them** , huh?" he whispered.

"...Did they let you see a doctor?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject. He was scared – both of the prison staff and the inmates, including the one sitting in front of him. He just didn't want to admit it, not to himself or someone else.

He shook his head as he laughed humorlessly. "What are you doing here?"

Greg sighed after thinking about an answer. "I'm not sure." He smiled insecure. "Hoping to get some answers from you, I guess."

"So what are your questions?" The man leaned back in his seat.

"I've been thinking, you know? Why did you videotape it all and… why'd you send it to the D.A.?"

Scott shrugged. "People needed to know what was happening. We set this asshole up, everything we did that night, we did it so he would expose himself. He insisted we break your right arm. We broke your left arm so that he'd say on camera that he wanted the arm to be broken."

"...But you killed him. Why does it matter?"

He leaned in a little. "Because I wanted everyone to know, his mother, his wife… the people at the supermarkt he bought his groceries from… **everyone** , to know what a monster he was."

"Is… Is this the reason you left me alone with him?"

Scott raised his eyebrows. "...Well, yeah. We knew his MO, alright? We knew that he liked to take his time with his prey. And he did, didn't he? He didn't rape you yet, so… we're good, right?" He grinned.

The grin disturbed Greg, so he decided to change the subject. "Okay. So… why'd you let me live?"

Scott looked at him confused. "Huh?"

"You said it yourself. I'm the reason you guys are in here. You had the chance to kill me… Why didn't you?"

"Why should we have? Look, the two of us will never be friends, but we had the same agenda, didn't we? We were partners in crime." He grinned at the two CSIs. "Granted, we had different ideas on how to achieve our goals, but… we did it, right?" He noticed the disturbed look on Greg. It caused him to tone his cynical humor down a notch. "Alright, I'd be lying if I'd say I didn't enjoy what we did to you, but for what it's worth, I'm also kinda sorry."

"...Thanks. That's… that's good to hear, I guess." Greg frowned.

"If I could've done the same thing to the warden without you getting involved, I would've, is all I'm saying."

"...Then why did you force me to shoot him?" he asked with a shaky voice. With everything that had happened and had been done to him, this one haunted him the most.

"I didn't force you." Scott just shrugged. "I just figured you might want it."

"...I told you I didn't."

"So? I didn't care, I just wanted this guy to suffer. And I know he would've hated getting shot by you. He thought you were weak. You could've proven him wrong but… guess he was right."

Hearing this affected Greg deeply. He felt weak and powerless ever since he'd been attacked by Neil Novak. Hearing this from other people hurt a lot.

"He's not weak," Nick chimed in.

"...Nick, it's okay." Greg asked him not to get involved in the conversation.

"No, I'm sorry, Greg. But I won't sit here listening to this guy attacking you for not being a coldblooded killer. He's not weak, he survived a lot. He's strong enough to come face to face with you, three days after you attacked him in a viscious and horrifying way."

Scott grinned, with an impressed look on his face. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry. I might've misjudged you."

"...Thanks," he replied surprised. He leaned in to Nick to whisper to him. It ended in a whispered discussion, but Nick eventually agreed to what Greg asked him. He walked out of the room.

Scott looked at him in confusion. "What's going on?"

"I asked him to give us a moment alone."

"Yeah I got that. Why?"

"Because I don't want him to know about the following… I know I owe you my life. Had the warden asked any other inmates to help him with his plan, I might not be sitting here right now. You also did some pretty awful things to me, but I know that you guys were pretty much backed into a corner and had no other choice. So what I'm actually trying to say is that I'm thankful for what you did."

Scott didn't know how to react to this. He felt bad about what he did to Greg now. He was getting emotional, something he didn't know how to deal with. "...So?" he asked annoyed, in an attempt to deal with his emotions.

"So… When this all is over, the court hearings, trials and whatnot… I'll pay you back."

"What the hell are you talking about?" he was getting rather aggressive. His go-to reaction was always rage when faced with emotions.

Greg smiled at him. "I can't really explain it, but I just feel like I have to do this. Life didn't treat you guys fairly. And now you're going to get punished for doing the right thing."

"The right thing? You think we did the right thing?"

"In your world, yes. I wish you would've let him live but I understand why you felt like you couldn't. I'll talk in your favor at the hearings and the trial and I sincerely hope it'll help reduce your sentence, but… I don't feel like it will be enough."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Get to the point already."

Greg's smile got bigger. "I'll transfer some money to your accounts."

Scott's eyes widened. "What?"

"It won't be much, but I hope it'll make your lives inside these walls a little more comfortable."

"...Are you serious?"

Greg nodded. "I just want you guys to know that I appreciate what you did for me." He got off his seat. "Take care." He hesitated for a second, then pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his pocket and wrote his work number on it. "If one of you guys needs something… anything, let me know, alright?"

Scott watched him walk towards the door. He was surprised, almost shocked, by Greg's words. "...W-Wait. S-Sit back down. Please."

He did. "Yeah?"

Scott looked down on his folded hands on the table. "This prison's close to a riot. It's pretty much divided in three parties. The ones who despised the warden, the ones who had no idea what was going on and the ones who idiolized him."

Greg nodded interested.

"The latter is obviously not pleased about what we did. They're assaulting inmates. The few guards who didn't know about what Shaw did are stopping most of it, but they're not around all the time. It's just a matter of time until a riot gets started."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Scott hesitated to answer, but Greg pressed him to. "I know you don't have enough power or influence to get the rotten guards fired," he whispered to him.

The CSI hastily shook his head. "I'll try my best, believe me."

Scott smiled at him. "Look, maybe I'm being naive, but I think getting rid of the… pro-Shaw party leader would make a huge difference. He's got too many henchmen to get close to him, otherwise we'd take care of him ourselves. Maybe your approach might be a better fit here."

Greg frowned. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know." Scott shrugged as he chuckled. "I shouldn't have said anything, I guess there's nothing you can do about it."

"N-No, tell me. I want to help you. Maybe I can get him transferred to another prison or…" He got his pen and pape ready. "Just tell me his name, who is he?"

"Glenn Weller."Greg sat down opposite Glenn Weller in the prison's visitor room with a heavy look on his face. All the fears about being back in this prison were being overshadowed by his feelings towards this man right now. It was hard to put in words, but he knew he needed to confront him. "So how are you doing?"

Glenn was unaware of Greg's talk with Scott Brooks, he was still in victim-mode. "I'm so glad to see you." He smiled at him. "How'd you get hurt?"

"You didn't hear?" he asked coldly.

"What do you mean, I… Wait. No. No, don't tell me it's you. The CSI who got attacked the other day? It's you?" Glenn's eyes instantly watered. "What did he do to you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"...What do you mean? There's different rumors and I hope none of them are true, they're all horrifying..."

"Are you hoping to get off on what I'd tell you or do you plan to use it for your gain later?"

"...Huh?"

"Do you know the inmates who were involved in Shaw's death?" Glenn shook his head, so he went on, "Well, they know you. And they told me some interesting things about you."

"What do you mean?" The pitying look on his face changed into a worried one as he wiped the fake tears away.

"You didn't get raped, did you? You didn't even get attacked. You're the one who's raping and attacking your fellow inmates."

"...Greg, what… what are you talking about?"

"They told me all about you. You've been at the warden's office parties, haven't you? But you were anything but a victim."

"Greg… you can't believe them."

"Don't worry, I find it hard to believe just about anyone these days. So I decided I couldn't just take their words for it. I looked into it. There's been several complaints about you from the inmates, but they all took it back after they've needed medical attention. Interesting, huh?"

"So? These people in here, I'm telling you, they're all liars. They complain about me because they don't like me. I'm telling you, I get beat up almost daily!" Glenn tried to gain Greg's trust and empathy back, but he didn't succeed.

"They complain about you because you're sexually assaulting them. My colleagues talked to a few of them and they claim you've been at the warden's office parties. As a perpetrator, not a victim. You never mentioned that your mother used to date the warden, either."

He kept quiet, staring at the CSI.

"We talked to her, you two got along pretty well. When you got arrested a few months after they broke up, you were supposed to get sent to a different prison, but the warden pulled some strings, and here you are now."

"You call that evidence?"

Greg sighed. "It's enough for me not to trust you anymore."

"Greg, please! You have to help me. I'll die in here if you don't. Do you want that? Do you want me to die?"

The CSI was losing his patience. "I don't care what happens to you! You can stop the act, it's over. You're not getting anything out of me."

The desperation in Glenn's face quickly changed to anger. "You won't help me?"

"No."

He stared at him with an intense look. "You're making a big mistake."

"Your threats won't work, either. I've looked further in your case, you didn't just want to be transferred to **any** prison, you asked for a specific one several times. I wondered why, so I checked it out. You went to high school with the warden from that prison. He took over just five months ago. Is he like Shaw?"

Glenn didn't answer, his angered look just intensified.

"Well all I can say is… congratulations. You're getting transferred." Greg never thought he could enjoy taking something good from someone, but seeing Glenn's eyes light up shortly before he was about to disappoint him made him quite happy. "But not to your desired Nevada prison. Ever been to Montana?"

"...What?"

"See, it's not my choice. The D.A. decided it's best for you to move to another state. He knows this whole thing started with you. If it weren't for you, he thinks the warden might still be alive."

"Are you serious? You're sending me to another state, to… Montana? You can't do that."

"I can't. The D.A., however… he can and he is. Pack your things, you're leaving in a few hours."

"...What?!" He hopped off his seat furiously, knocking over his chair. "Screw you! You're not getting away with this!"

The prison guard took his taser out. "Get down," he ordered.

Greg had made sure the guard wasn't one of Shaw's henchmen. "Glenn, don't make this harder for yourself. It's over, just accept it. You lost." He knew he was only provoking him more but he didn't want to show any fear or weakness.

The inmate hesitated for a moment, but then decided to do what the guard ordered, knowing that the alternative would not be a wise choice. "You'll regret this. I have friends outside that can end what Shaw started with you. You better watch your back from now on," Glenn said in a threatening tone as the guard put cuffs around his wrists. The guard helped him back up and on his seat. "What else do you want from me?!" he hissed at the CSI.

Greg tried to stay calm, although that threat really scared him. "You don't have to lose all your privileges, though. The D.A.'s very interested to know what warden Breslin is doing in his prison. If you give us valuable information you'll profit from it."

"Yeah, how? Will I get a waterbed in my suit?" He rolled his eyes.

Greg shook his head. "They might reconsider putting you in isolation for the rest of your sentence. You might even be allowed to go out in the yard occasionally."

Imagining a life in isolation for decades wasn't a comforting thought. "...You want to put me in isolation?"

"The D.A.'s **very** pissed about Shaw's death."

Glenn spit at Greg, but missed him. The guard, however, restrained him by pushing him against the table.

Greg got off his seat. "It's your decision, Glenn. Either way you'll spend many years in prison. It's your choice if you want any company in those years."

"You cruel bastard!" he yelled. "What, you think I can just give up any information about Breslin? I'll get killed in here if he finds out!"

"You won't be in here. Nobody knows you in Montana, you'd be safe there. It's your decision, cooperate or don't, I don't really care. Have a nice life, Glenn."


	11. Chapter 11

Greg had kept it together inside the visitor's room, but the fear and panic set in the moment he set foot outside that room.

"That took an awful long time," Nick said as he approached his friend. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Greg closed his eyes as he nodded, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. "I don't think he's going to talk," he finally said after a moment of silence. "He's scared that warden Breslin might hurt him if he does."

"Too bad, but I'm sure they'll find enough evidence against him once they start their investigation."

He shrugged. "I'm not sure about that. Breslin's powerful and rich. Warden Shaw was able to abuse his inmates for decades, people found out and he bribed them to keep their mouths shut."

"You don't know that."

"Scott Brooks told me. He claims those people got money or promotions to keep quiet about it."

"Does he have any evidence to back that claim up?"

Greg shook his head. "No… He said it's just hearsay but… It's a scary thought. And what if it's true? The D.A. will stop investigating as soon as he finds a good reason to, and I'm sure Breslin will have one ready."

Nick sighed. This sounded more like conspiracy theories than reality to him, but he was aware that there were many corrupt people working in law enforcement. "We can only hope for the best, there's not much we can do."

* * *

Nick had dropped Greg off at his home before driving to the lab to work. The younger CSI was on edge ever since he left the prison's interrogation room and found it hard to relax. He tried to by playing video games, but startled as he heard someone being at the door. Before he reached the door spy to see who it was, he realized this person was trying to get inside. Panic set in as he remembered the threat Glenn Weller uttered towards him. He hurried to get Nick's gun out of his bedroom, running back to hide behind the couch. He was shocked to see Nick walk in.

"Hey Greg," he exclaimed, "I forgot my..." He stared at him in shock. "What are you doing?"

Greg was standing there with the gun in his shaking hand, reduced to tears.

"...Give me that." Nick hurried to his friend to take the gun from him. "What were you doing with this?"

"I-I'm sorry, I thought… I thought someone was trying to break in."

"It's just me." Nick hugged him. "I'm sorry I scared you, I forgot my cell phone and only realized when I was already at the lab."

Greg didn't say anything, just nodded as he wiped his tears away.

Nick put the gun down on the coffee table. He exhaled. "You almost gave me a heart attack, I thought you were about to shoot yourself."

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken your gun."

Nick felt a bit conflicted about this. "No, it's okay. Just be careful with it, alright?" They both sat down on the couch. "Why did you think someone was breaking in?"

He tapped his thumb nervously on his knee. "Because of what Glenn Weller said."

Greg had told Nick about the threats against him. "Glenn Weller is in isolation and won't get any chance to contact anyone for a while, alright?" They talked for a while, Nick was trying to calm his friend down. He somewhat succeeded.

"You should get going now," Greg suggested.

"I don't feel good leaving you by yourself now, Greg. Let me talk to Russell, maybe he doesn't need me today." He grabbed his cell phone.

He hastily shook his head. "No, I'm alright."

Nick raised an eyebrow as he looked at his phone screen. "Doesn't matter anymore, you're coming with me."

* * *

Shortly after Greg talked to Glenn Weller, he was found dead in his isolated cell. The circumstances around his death were a little suspicious, as he had slit his own throat with a shank they weren't sure how he got inside the cell. Further investigation would soon proove he'd actually committed suicide, without any foul play.

Nick handed Greg a cup of coffee as he sat down next to him in Russell's office. "Okay, I'll say it first. I'm really glad he's dead."

"...What?"

"Come on, Greg. The threats against you… they're nothing but empty threats now. There's no way he contacted anyone before he killed himself."

"Maybe..."

Nick patted his shoulder. "I don't mean to sound cynical or morbid but… He was a dangerous man and he's not able to hurt anyone anymore."

"I know but… This whole case, Nick, from beginning to start… there's only been losers, no winners in this."

"Kinda soul-crushing, I know. But it's over."

"Is it? I feel like this is only getting started with warden Breslin."

"Not our responsibility, though. Let the guys there take over, our cases are closed. Warden Shaw got stopped, you're cleared of all possible charges and Glenn Weller is dead."

Russell walked in. "Don't worry, guys, it gets better." He smiled at them. "Warden Breslin just confessed. He crumbled the moment they brought up Glenn Weller when they claimed he had ratted him out."

"...Just like that?" Greg frowned confused.

"Yeah. According to him and the inmates, there was no rape at his parties. There was no violence involved, but he did bribe them. Gave them special treatment when they agreed to do whatever he wants. But there didn't seem to be any violence involved, no suspicious injuries and there's even inmates who didn't want to do it and didn't get punished for it or anything. I know it sounds weird, but it all seems like it was consensual sex."

"So he bribed them, but didn't force them to do anything?" Nick asked.

The supervisor nodded. "That's what the evidence and the interviews suggest. I'm telling you, this case is getting weirder and weirder. They're not sure what to do with warden Breslin, yet, but he's out of a job for sure." He sat down and grabbed a file out of his desk drawer. "So… This horribly confusing case is officially closed," he said as he signed the last page of the file. "Congratulations, Greg. You did it." He smiled at him.

He laughed humorlessly. "Thanks. Considering that I confused a suspect with being a victim and accidentally got my main suspect killed, while I got beat up… I'm not too sure there's reason to congratulate me."

Russell sighed. "Didn't quite turn out how I expected or hoped, either. But you're alive and you exposed and stopped two dangerous rapists, that counts for something, right?"

"Maybe." He got off his seat. "I'm just glad it's over." He walked out.

"Do you think he's going to be alright?" Russell asked with worry in his voice.

Nick shrugged. "His spirit seems a bit broken, but I'm sure he'll recover."

"Have you watched the video yet?"

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not sure I should. Have you?"

"Do him and yourself a favor and keep it that way. It wasn't easy to watch it and facing him afterward. The despair and helplessness in his eyes… It's haunting. I can't get it out of my head."

"...That bad?" Nick frowned.

"I feel so much guilt, I wish I could've protected him from this somehow. Instead I let him meet with Shaw by himself. I should've come with him or..."

"Russell, come on. Neither one of us could've known what would happen."

"He kept telling me that he thought the warden was dangerous and, frankly, I just wouldn't believe him. I wish I would've believed him."

Nick gave him a soft smile. "Good to know I'm not the only one who feels guilty about it."

"Oh no, Nick, don't. You had nothing to do with it, this isn't your responsibility."

"It isn't yours, either. Greg made the decision to go after the warden even after you warned him. At some point we have to accept that we can't protect him from everything… Not even himself."

Russell chuckled. "Yeah, I guess. We should be thankful he's alive."

* * *

Nick came home that night exhausted and tired. He went against Russell's advice and decided to watch the video the inmates made of Greg and the warden, after all. He kind of regretted the decision but knew that not watching it would keep him up at night – he didn't expect watching it would have the same effect.

Greg was lying on the couch sleeping. He was having a hard time falling asleep in his bedroom but felt more comfortable in the living room at the moment. Being closer to the door gave him a sense of security.

Nick walked up to him, looking at him with a soft smile on his face. But tears were soon falling down his face as he sat down on an armchair next to the couch.

His sobs woke Greg up. "Nick, you're back alread… are you crying? What's wrong?" He quickly sat up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep." He got off his seat.

"Nick… Did something happen at work?" The way Nick stood there looking at him, it didn't take long for Greg to figure it out. "...You watched the video, didn't you?"

He nodded as he sat down on the foot end of the couch. "I didn't want to at first, but… I felt like I needed to see."

"You shouldn't have done that, Nick, what were you thinking?"

"That I should be able to pull through the video if you were able to… live through it."

Greg released a deep sigh as his eyes filled with tears, too. "Nick, I'm fine. I know it looks bad on video..."

"Because it **was** bad," he interrupted him.

"Yes it was. But I'm fine now and..."

"What did they do to you, Greg?"

"...Nick, come on, stop it. I don't want to talk about this now. You know what they did, I already told you."

"But I **need** to talk about this now. The way I understood this was that they attacked you, then Shaw walked in and they overpowered him. I didn't realize how much time had passed between when Shaw entered and when they shot him."

The younger man released a deep sigh as he leaned back on the couch. "So?"

"...So… What happened in that time?"

"You watched the video, you know what happened." Greg was quite annoyed that Nick had watched the video and was now asking so many questions. "What do you want to hear from me?"

"Yeah, but it's… it's often out of frame, but the noises… I just… My mind's filling in the blanks and I need to know what really went down."

"There's not much to tell you, Nick. He kissed me and hit me each time I tried to fight him off. The guys came back shortly after."

"Are you sure that's all?"

He nodded. "Yes, that's all. This probably looks worse on video. You really need to stop worrying about me, I'll be fine."


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey, what's with the suit?" Nick asked with a smile on his face as Greg walked into the break room. Warden Shaw got killed three weeks ago and even though he still had his arm in a cast, Greg was already back to work.

"I was in court," he replied as he prepared himself a cup of coffee.

"I thought the Keanan court hearing is next week." Nick took a bite from his sandwich.

"It is. This was the Brooks court hearing."

"Huh?"

Greg sat down opposite him. "You know, Scott Brooks. He just had his hearing.

Nick frowned. "You didn't tell me you would go."

"It was a last minute decision." He tapped his thumb on the coffee mug. "...Okay, it wasn't. I knew I was going to be there from the beginning. I didn't tell you because I worried you might want to talk me out of it."

Nick thought about it. "I might've. How did it go?"

"Alright, I guess. The D.A. wasn't exactly thrilled to see me, but I think I convinced the judge that they don't deserve the death penalty. She said she needs some time to think about it. That's a good sign, right?"

"Depends… Which judge?"

"Judge Cera."

Nick raised an eyebrow as he chuckled. "Really."

"...Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Come on, say it."

Nick grinned. "It's just that she once asked me if you were single."

"...What? When?"

"A few months ago. Didn't I tell you?"

Greg shook his head.

"Well, sorry, must've forgotten." He actually didn't tell him because he was jealous about it. He had planned to ask her out before she asked him about Greg.

Greg looked in his coffee mug as a smile formed on his lips. "So you think I have a chance?"

"Nah, I heard she's engaged."

He gave his friend a look. "I was talking about the case, Nick."

"I think you do. Not because she likes you, but because she's a great judge. She'll recognize that what they did was couragous."

"...Do you think that?" he asked surprised. Whenever that subject had come up in the past, Nick had a hard time understanding why Greg even wasted time thinking about those three inmates. But after he had some time to digest what happened, he was able to see things more clearly.

"Yeah. I really wish they'd had come up with another plan but… I know you're right, they saved your life. I genuinely hope judge Cera sees that, too."

* * *

Scott Brooks had asked Greg to pay him another visit. He still felt quite uneasy inside the prison, but decided not to tell Nick where he went.

Scott greeted Greg with a soft smile on his face. "Hey, thank you for coming."

"Hi Scott." He smiled back at him. "I was quite surprised to hear you wanted to talk to me.

"Well, I wanted to thank you." Greg's efforts to explain that the inmates actually helped him worked, the judge was convinced and the D.A. later agreed that the death penalty might not be appropriate for the three men. Instead, another few decades were added to each of their sentences, which didn't make much of a difference since they were already serving life sentences.

"It was the least I could do, Scott. I'm glad it helped."

He shook his head. "I don't just mean what you did at the trial, but also that you took care of Glenn Weller. Things have pretty much died down here, it's gotten quiet and peaceful around here. Well, as peaceful as a prison can be."

Greg's smile got wider. "I'm glad to hear that."

"And, uh… I wanted to ask you how you were doing."

Greg frowned in surprise. "Huh?"

"Y-Your bruises have almost faded, huh?" Scott was having a hard time being nice and considerate.

"...Yeah, everything's healing good." Greg was confused and wary, thinking this might be some plan to get something out of him.

Scott was fidgeting in his seat nervously. "Good… Good. I… I keep thinking about you, you know?"

Greg wasn't sure how to respond, he was highly confused.

"I-I… I just don't want you to… A few days ago I realized what we actually did to you… And that you might have a hard time dealing with it or something..."

"...Oh," he said rather surprised. He had already made up several scenarios of why Scott would ask about how he was feeling, but this one wasn't one of them. "You… You worry about me?"

"Don't make a big deal of it, alright? I just don't want you to… suffer because of what we did."

This touched Greg, his eyes teared up as he shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. The fact that you saved me outweighs everything else you did. I know you had no choice."

"You see, that's not true. We **wanted** to hurt you. We could've done this without you getting hurt at all, but we decided you needed to be punished for getting us in here. We had fun doing these things to you, you know? But that was before… I got to know you a little. We'll never be friends, I know that, but… you didn't have to do everything you did for us." He shook his head as he chuckled. "I don't even get why you don't hate us, why you don't want us to suffer after we made you suffer. But… I think we can learn from you. Letting go of things, you know? Letting go of grudges, recognizing our own responsibilities." He smiled. "Thanking you for your forgiveness and for what you did for us."

Greg nodded as he wiped his tears away. He was completely overwhelmed by Scott's words, unable to respond.

"So… I honestly hope you can forgive us and that you'll be okay."

* * *

The next day, Greg came home late in the afternoon. Nick had just come home a few minutes earlier, too. He was in the kitchen getting the groceries he had just bought inside the kitchen cabinets and fridge when Greg joined him in the kitchen. "Hey Nick."

"Hey you." Nick smiled at him. "I was in the mood for pizza, I ordered some on my way home, should be here any moment. Are you hungry?"

He nodded. "Sure, thanks." He watched him put the groceries away.

Nick smiled as he noticed he was being watched. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Well, there's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"Sure." Both walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. "What's up?"

Greg had a hard time starting the conversation. "I, uhm… I just come from my appointment with Dr. Reyes."

"Oh." Nick didn't even know about the appointment, Greg never told him. "How'd it go?"

"Well, she thinks it's important I come clean so I can start healing… I left some things out when I told you what happened."

"...Oh." Nick had a horrified look on his face. What Greg had told him was bad enough. His mind was already thinking up updates on the story.

"Look, it's not a big deal and I don't want you to blow this out of proportion. I thought it would be easier to keep this to myself but Dr. Reyes is right, it's eating away at me. Not because of what happened, but because I'm keeping it to myself."

Nick was already crying. His mind made up horrible scenarios, he could hardly concentrate on what his friend was saying. "You know you can tell me anything. You can confide in me, I won't tell anyone."

This brought a soft smile to Greg's face. He knew that, but being reminded of it helped him. "I know, thank you. So… when you asked about what you saw on the video I wasn't completely honest. I just couldn't, I didn't want you to know because I know you worry so much. But you're worrying, anyway, right?" he said with a tat of humor in his voice, trying to lighten the mood. But Nick was too tense right now, the attempt didn't work. "...Alright, here it goes. When the warden walked back in… Moving around hurt a lot because they had broken my arm. I still tried to get up when he walked up to me, but he kicked me in the chest. I fell down again and he climbed on top of me. He bit, scratched… and kissed me, whenever I tried to get him off me he hurt me. So after a few tries I realized that there was no point, I just… gave up. I decided to just let it happen and hope that it's over soon." Greg was pausing after every few sentence, trying to keep his composure. Telling this story was hard. When he first told it in Dr. Reyes' practice, he was crying and shaking. He didn't want to fall apart like that in front of Nick, he didn't want to burden his friend. "He… forced my broken hand down his pants, but my whole arm was numb from the pain by then. The guys came back shortly after."

Nick was reduced to tears.

Looking at his friend was tough, but he did it, anyway. "This doesn't really change anything. This doesn't make it any better or worse. What happened was bad but I'll recover. You know me, I survived worse." He forced a smile.

"And no one else knows? Not Brass or Russell or detective Sullivan?"

"No, and I'd like it to stay that way. They know that the warden planned to sexually assault me, they don't have to know that he actually did."

"But there's no shame in it."

"Yeah, I know. But it doesn't change anything for the case and I'm not sure it changes much for me, either." Greg didn't know, but the inmates had already told detective Sullivan what the warden did to him. Brass and Russell knew, too.

Nick nodded. "Do you feel better now that you've told me?"

"Well, there's actually more. Scott Brooks wanted to see me again."

"...What happened?"

"Don't worry, nothing bad. He… He thanked me. This ruthless murderer who killed people over a few hundred dollars… he thanked me for being forgiving. And said he hopes they didn't traumatize me too much."

Nick frowned. "...He's taken weeks to realize that what they did might've been a little traumatizing?"

"I think it's taking him some time to realize what they did wasn't their best choice. I think he knows they messed up, he said he regrets they hurt me and would do things differently if he had the chance. It was just… weird to hear these things from him, you know? But also touching and… kinda hopeful."

Nick nodded. "But don't forget that he's a dangerous man."

"I know, I'm not going to befriend him or anything, but it meant a lot to me to hear these words from him." He smiled. "And I felt like I should share this with you."

"Thanks." Nick smiled back. It was a rather bittersweet smile. He appreciated that Greg confided in him, but he wished his friend wouldn't always be so naive. He just didn't trust Scott Brooks.

"And… there's one more."

"Yeah?" Nick raised his eyebrows. The pessismist in him was still waiting for a bad reveal, that something really bad had happened and that Greg was saving it for last.

"First let me say that I already made up my mind and that you can't change it. I'm just telling you because this is important to me and I hope you'll understand it and maybe even support me in this."

He nodded. "Sure."

"I'm giving the three inmates some money."

"...What?"

"I thought about it a lot. I can affort to give some away and I hope it'll make their lives a little better. They all have kids, I hope they'll give some of it to them."

"...How much money are we talking?" Nick asked, knowing that once Greg set his mind on something, there was no point in talking him out of it.

"I was thinking five thousand dollars."

"That's an odd number to break between three… Wait, each?!"

"Look, I know it sounds like a lot but I can afford it at the moment."

Nick sighed. "But you don't have to do this. They will be fine without it."

"So will I. They saved my life, Nick. You might not understand it, but I need to do this. I feel like that's the least I can do after they risked everything to..."

"To safe you? That's not what happened, Greg. They might've risked everything to expose the warden, saving you was just a bonus they didn't even care for."

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I'm doing this."

"Alright. But you might reconsider how much you're giving away. These are people that probably aren't good with money. You might be doing them a bigger favor if you give them less."

Greg frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Five thousand dollars is **a lot** for a man in prison. They might do something stupid, like investing it in some stupid scheme or something. How about two thousand? That's a nice sum. It's still a lot, but not enough for them to do anything stupid with it. And if you feel like it's not enough, you can give them more later."


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry it took me forever to upload, I'm not even sure people are still reading :) If you are, let me know what you think of the story!**

* * *

"Hey, what's with the suit?" Nick asked with a smile on his face as Greg walked into the break room. Warden Shaw got killed three weeks ago and even though he still had his arm in a cast, Greg was already back to work.

"I was in court," he replied as he prepared himself a cup of coffee.

"I thought the Keanan court hearing is next week." Nick took a bite from his sandwich.

"It is. This was the Brooks court hearing."

"Huh?"

Greg sat down opposite him. "You know, Scott Brooks. He just had his hearing.

Nick frowned. "You didn't tell me you would go."

"It was a last minute decision." He tapped his thumb on the coffee mug. "...Okay, it wasn't. I knew I was going to be there from the beginning. I didn't tell you because I worried you might want to talk me out of it."

Nick thought about it. "I might've. How did it go?"

"Alright, I guess. The D.A. wasn't exactly thrilled to see me, but I think I convinced the judge that they don't deserve the death penalty. She said she needs some time to think about it. That's a good sign, right?"

"Depends… Which judge?"

"Judge Cera."

Nick raised an eyebrow as he chuckled. "Really."

"...Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Come on, say it."

Nick grinned. "It's just that she once asked me if you were single."

"...What? When?"

"A few months ago. Didn't I tell you?"

Greg shook his head.

"Well, sorry, must've forgotten." He actually didn't tell him because he was jealous about it. He had planned to ask her out before she asked him about Greg.

Greg looked in his coffee mug as a smile formed on his lips. "So you think I have a chance?"

"Nah, I heard she's engaged."

He gave his friend a look. "I was talking about the case, Nick."

"I think you do. Not because she likes you, but because she's a great judge. She'll recognize that what they did was couragous."

"...Do you think that?" he asked surprised. Whenever that subject had come up in the past, Nick had a hard time understanding why Greg even wasted time thinking about those three inmates. But after he had some time to digest what happened, he was able to see things more clearly.

"Yeah. I really wish they'd had come up with another plan but… I know you're right, they saved your life. I genuinely hope judge Cera sees that, too."

* * *

Scott Brooks had asked Greg to pay him another visit. He still felt quite uneasy inside the prison, but decided not to tell Nick where he went.

Scott greeted Greg with a soft smile on his face. "Hey, thank you for coming."

"Hi Scott." He smiled back at him. "I was quite surprised to hear you wanted to talk to me.

"Well, I wanted to thank you." Greg's efforts to explain that the inmates actually helped him worked, the judge was convinced and the D.A. later agreed that the death penalty might not be appropriate for the three men. Instead, another few decades were added to each of their sentences, which didn't make much of a difference since they were already serving life sentences.

"It was the least I could do, Scott. I'm glad it helped."

He shook his head. "I don't just mean what you did at the trial, but also that you took care of Glenn Weller. Things have pretty much died down here, it's gotten quiet and peaceful around here. Well, as peaceful as a prison can be."

Greg's smile got wider. "I'm glad to hear that."

"And, uh… I wanted to ask you how you were doing."

Greg frowned in surprise. "Huh?"

"Y-Your bruises have almost faded, huh?" Scott was having a hard time being nice and considerate.

"...Yeah, everything's healing good." Greg was confused and wary, thinking this might be some plan to get something out of him.

Scott was fidgeting in his seat nervously. "Good… Good. I… I keep thinking about you, you know?"

Greg wasn't sure how to respond, he was highly confused.

"I-I… I just don't want you to… A few days ago I realized what we actually did to you… And that you might have a hard time dealing with it or something..."

"...Oh," he said rather surprised. He had already made up several scenarios of why Scott would ask about how he was feeling, but this one wasn't one of them. "You… You worry about me?"

"Don't make a big deal of it, alright? I just don't want you to… suffer because of what we did."

This touched Greg, his eyes teared up as he shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. The fact that you saved me outweighs everything else you did. I know you had no choice."

"You see, that's not true. We **wanted** to hurt you. We could've done this without you getting hurt at all, but we decided you needed to be punished for getting us in here. We had fun doing these things to you, you know? But that was before… I got to know you a little. We'll never be friends, I know that, but… you didn't have to do everything you did for us." He shook his head as he chuckled. "I don't even get why you don't hate us, why you don't want us to suffer after we made you suffer. But… I think we can learn from you. Letting go of things, you know? Letting go of grudges, recognizing our own responsibilities." He smiled. "Thanking you for your forgiveness and for what you did for us."

Greg nodded as he wiped his tears away. He was completely overwhelmed by Scott's words, unable to respond.

"So… I honestly hope you can forgive us and that you'll be okay."


End file.
